Just One Day
by sweetatoo
Summary: Just one day... That's all he ever needs to have his wishes fulfilled. However, certain things never quite turn out the way the warlock has planned, do they?
1. King and Pawn

All he needed was just that one day.

One day to de-stress. One day to get away from all of this. One day to put everything behind and become a normal teenager again.

Just one day. That's all he needed.

But it wasn't that easy.

Nunnally was a governor of Area 11.

Charles was back while Lelouch thought he'd trapped the former in the World of C.

Everything was a mess. He was a mess, but worst of all…

C.C. was gone, replaced by this pathetic girl with a mind-set of a slave.

All the more reason why he needed that one day.

"C.C., grab your coat. We're going out for a bit," said Lelouch to the girl curling up on the couch and watching a show on TV.

"Where are we going, Master?" she asked, turning off the TV.

"You'll see."

Lelouch didn't care where he was going. He didn't even know where he was going. All he was aware of was his feet taking him southward from the Black Knights' headquarters, presumably to downtown.

He was walking on the sidewalk streaked by the twilights and C.C. was quietly trailing behind him. Once in a while, he'd hear her exclaim excitedly from behind. He didn't turn around and kept walking.

Sounds of footsteps resonated on the sidewalk.

Lelouch closed his eyes. All he needed was just one day.

Today. Just one day. That's all he's asking for.

Quickening his pace, Lelouch opened his eyes again, and suddenly all the operation-related thoughts flooded back into his clouded brain, cleared it, and he was back to his old self again. The sad, depressed, lonely, and desperate self.

He stopped. C.C. bumped into him from behind. Apparently, she was too engaged in window-shopping to notice her master had halted.

"C.C.," said Lelouch as he turned around to face her. "Would you like some ice cream?"

"Ice cream?"

_Right, she never had it before…_

"Come" was all he said before he started forward again. C.C. meekly followed.

Her bright, golden orbs widened considerably as she licked a corner of her mouth in satisfaction. Lelouch had bought her a cone of strawberry-flavored ice cream, and he watched in slight amusement as the former witch hungrily devoured the treat.

"Slow down," he said. "You have to slow down to enjoy it."

C.C. bobbled her head in agreement.

They walked for a while before Lelouch stopped again. He beckoned with his head toward the window of a clothes shop. "Girls like this kind of stuff, don't they?" he asked his companion. C.C. only looked at him innocently while still shyly licking her ice cream, and he gestured with his head for her to follow him.

Handles of bags and bags were dangling from Lelouch's fingers as he strolled on the sidewalk with a brightly smiling C.C. walking beside him. She was laughing and saying something excitedly, presumably about the shopping spree on which they'd just been, but he couldn't hear anything. It was a buzz in his ears.

Lelouch was walking, he knew that, but his mind wasn't there. It was back at the headquarters, hovering over those maps and plans, and centered on the sole facts of Charles's return and of Nunnally's fate.

C.C.'s laughter was so shrill and high-pitched it hurt his ears.

Suddenly, all around him sounds were magnified, his head was bursting, and Lelouch's grip on the shopping bags tightened till his knuckles turned white.

Just one day, that's all he needed.

"SHUT UP!"

C.C. yelped. Shopping bags dropped on the sidewalk. The spot in which Lelouch had just stood was vacant now, and C.C. was calling desperately after him.

"Master! Master!" Eyes befell her.

In the distance, the dot of a running figure was becoming smaller and smaller…

C.C. froze where she was. Wrapping her arms around her slender frame, she trembled after realizing she was all alone, not knowing where to go. Tears were streaming down freely.

Just one day…

Lelouch dragged his tired feet across the darkened playground. It was dusk now and the air was chilly. Sitting down in an empty swing - the whole place was empty save for himself and the nearby rustling trees – Lelouch put his head in his hands.

Then, he rested his elbows on his knees and leaned slightly forward, peering into the descending darkness.

He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, staring into the darkness which provided no end. An endless, unknown path in front of him.

A corner of his lips lifted up into a rueful smirk. "I'm so pathetic."

"C.C.?" Lelouch's quiet voice echoed throughout the room. The doors slid shut behind him. He glanced at his cell phone's clock and saw that it was close to 11 p.m., yet no sign of the green-haired witch anywhere.

The room was empty. It had been empty ever since she'd lost her memory, but now it was worse that she wasn't even physically there.

Lelouch dragged himself toward the couch and flopped down, ruffling his hair in annoyance. Where was she?

Leaning back in his seat, Lelouch draped an arm over the sofa, crossed his legs and stared into space with those dead, violet irises.

Then…

Those soulless irises became alarmed, and he shot up from his seat.

He remembered now and fear shot through his spine as he darted toward the sliding doors.

Not daring to call out her name in fear of getting them both discovered, Lelouch could only run wildly around downtown in search of the helpless girl.

Unfit for such task, he was quickly worn out and he panted furiously with both hands on his knees.

"C.C…" he said through gritted teeth. Sweats were matting his hair against his forehead. His eyes were wild, but he had to find her.

Running this way and that, he searched for her like a mad man. He must have looked like one, indeed, because a couple of people actually moved out of his way and whispered to each other with judgmental eyes.

Just one day. To de-stress. To forget. To start over.

Just one day. To lose her…

Lelouch had reached his limits. Staggering toward a lamppost, he put his hand against the cold metal to support himself. His breathing was ragged and uneven and sweats dripped freely down from his matted hair. His legs were wobbly, his whole body shivered slightly against the cold, chilly air.

"C.C…" It was cold. She had gone out with a simple, relatively thin jacket. There's no way she could have survived the night, especially right now when she possessed no Code.

He had to find her fast.

But he couldn't. There was no strength left in that slender body, no energy left to even lift his legs. Slowly, Lelouch slid down and sat with his back against the lamppost with his face in his hands. His whole body shook against the winds.

It was half past midnight.

Lelouch's head was swimming.

… A hand reached out…

… Touched his hair, ruffled it…

Lelouch looked up with a start.

Nothing.

Suddenly, there was this feeling. What do they call it? A gut feeling?

He painfully climbed back onto his feet and started running again. This time following the feeling deep in the pit of his stomach.

There was no word to describe how he was feeling at the moment.

She was sitting there, hunched in a dark corner, squeezed against two tall, brown-bricked buildings. Arms wrapped around her, shopping bags littered about, head upon her folded arms, facing downward. Knees drew up. She looked so small against the whole world. Small and insignificant.

Lelouch bent down on one knee, reached out his hand and tenderly touched the top of her head. She stirred slightly, looked up with hazy eyes that quickly became clear and bright as she recognized her knight in shining armor.

Shopping bags fell over as she threw out her arms and flung herself into his opened ones. Her cries were muffled into his chest as he enclosed his arms protectively around her, unexpectedly squeezed them as if afraid of her evaporating right then and there if he hadn't.

"I'm sorry, C.C." He was whispering into her soft hair. "You're alright now. I'm sorry…"

"Master... Please don't leave me again."

"I won't. I promise."

That was the first time Lelouch ever allowed himself to unleash all the sorrows that were built up and buried ever since he'd gotten the Geass.

Those sorrows escaped in the form of tears.

Falling and falling… Never ceasing…

Just one day. To start over. That's all he needed.

Just one day…

* * *

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Code Geass.

**A/N: **I'm not sure if this is really angst, but I just categorized it as such just in case. Thank you for reading! Reviews are appreciated!


	2. King and Queen

Probably a week before the Zero Requiem went down, the grey witch was taking her time packing.

She went through her closet, which didn't really contain a lot of clothes since she was a traveler, a simple girl, who had no desire for fancy, elaborately styled outfits. Most of her clothes were quite plain, almost verging on boring. And there weren't that many, either. It didn't take her long to almost finish her packing. However, as she closed down the suitcase's lid and was ready to put a lock on it, something in a dark corner of the room caught her eye. She didn't know how she hadn't noticed that before.

Climbing on all four toward said object, C.C. pulled out a shopping bag. Her golden irises widened slightly in surprise as she inspected the contents inside. Glancing toward the corner again, she reached in and pulled out another and another. There were five shopping bags in total, and it baffled the grey witch so much that for a minute or two, she simply stared at them with bewildered eyes as to where on earth they came from. Then, a small, seemingly insignificant memory flooded back to her, and a corner of her lips lifted up into a smirk.

"Do you like it?"

Lelouch choked on his green tea, coughed for a while before recovering himself. He was sitting on a comfortable couch in their shared room at the royal palace. The Demon Emperor was taking back the privileges that he'd lost, and that would soon be taken away from him forever.

His eyes widened at the sight in front of him. "What on earth are you wearing, C.C.?" Lelouch inquired, surprised.

The girl in question twirled around, very unlike her, and that made him raise his brow. Her long, shiny, lime hair was fanning about her as she gracefully turned in a circle. "Don't you recognize it?" she asked with a mysterious smirk after returning to her stilled position.

Lelouch shook his head, saying, "I can't say I do."

"I suppose you have plenty on your plate at the moment, what with saving the world, sacrificing your life and atoning for your sins, to remember an insignificant date that we had," replied C.C. emotionlessly.

An incredulous frown appeared on his face. "A date? When was that?"

"You honestly don't remember?"

"I can't say I do."

"You said that already."

"Well, refresh my memory then."

As Lelouch was speaking, C.C. was leisurely strolling toward him so that she was now standing directly in front of him. The warlock sucked in a breath as the witch leaned in close, their faces only inches apart. She smirked as a slightly puzzled expression briefly dominated his features.

"Well," C.C. drawled. "Let's just say that it wasn't a successful date, given that you sort of abandoned me."

Suddenly, a loud chuckle escaped his lips that it startled her a bit. "I didn't expect you to have such a low expectation like that, witch." Lelouch was smirking, crossing his legs and leaning his head against the knuckles of his right hand. C.C. withdrew, looking a bit annoyed.

"Why so?" inquired she.

"Was that really a date to you? You weren't yourself. I abandoned you. You were out in the cold for hours. Mind you, you were mortal. You were crying, and I snapped at you."

"You were lucky, Lelouch. If I were myself, I'd probably end up murdering you in your sleep afterward," said C.C. coldly as she started walking away.

Suddenly, his arm shot out to catch hers. She turned around sharply and found him smiling slightly at her.

"What?"

"Are you going to change out of that beautiful lacy, white dress?" he asked gently.

"Of course." C.C. narrowed her eyes at him.

"You went through the trouble of putting the dress on, so why not put it into use after abandoning it in the dust for so long?"

C.C. pulled her arm free in order to cross them and looked at him with an unreadable expression. "I'm not up for any hide-and-seek game of yours, Lelouch," she replied sternly.

Lelouch's voice was quiet as he answered. "I promised you, didn't I? That I won't abandon you again."

"Promises are fleeting."

"My promises aren't. I have made you three and I intend to keep them." He sounded so unwavering that for a moment C.C. remained speechless.

"Please, C.C.," he continued, touching her arm. "Just one day. I need this. To rectify my mistake."

A pause.

"What are we going to do about your appearance? If you hadn't noticed, you're not very popular right now like you once were at school, Lelouch. Everyone's dying to get a piece of you, in a bad way."

**x**

**x**

"How can you bear with these?" grumbled Lelouch as he kept touching the top of his head. C.C. could only chuckle in response.

Right now, in the middle of the city where it was buzzing with people milling about, the Demon Emperor alongside his queen was leisurely talking an evening walk. Only they weren't themselves, appearances-wise.

Lelouch, as advised by C.C., took on a short blond wig with bright emerald green contact lenses, while she herself decided upon jet-black, long and beautifully curly wig, which bounced with each step she took, and light brown contacts. She also donned a pair of big glasses that stood over the upper half of her pretty face. Lelouch opposed to the idea, saying that it was an unnecessary accessory, but who could really change the witch's mind once she had set it on something?

So there they were, walking side by side, arm in arm, quite unlike the last time in which he walked in front with her trailing quietly behind. Back then, he was the king on the chessboard and she was a mere pawn; he couldn't have cared less about her. Right now, he was still the king, though she was no longer a pawn. She was his queen, right next to him, proud and important.

"Would you like some ice cream?" he asked when they approached that familiar shop.

"I said 'yes,' didn't I? The slave side of me." She shook her head. "Ice cream is too cold right now."

"Let's get some hot drinks then." He took her hand in his and walked further down the street until they came upon a coffee shop that didn't have such an agonizingly long waiting line.

After they'd gotten their hot chocolate, C.C. proposed to sit down in the shop for a while. Lelouch nodded his head in agreement.

As they sat at a small table in the corner where no one could have bothered them, Lelouch reached out to gently grab C.C.'s hand and squeezed it slightly.

She didn't return the gesture, only to carefully sip her steaming chocolate.

"This is nice," he commented.

"Ah, it is."

"Throughout all my life, this is the very first time I've been on a date." He chuckled.

"Really? I thought that with your popularity and charms with the ladies, you were able to score some with them."

Lelouch pondered for a second. "Well, I wasn't really interested in anyone at the time, and then you came along, and what I knew as my normal life was turned upside down."

"Are you thanking me or secretly complaining?"

"Does it matter right now?"

C.C. put down her cup and squeezed his hand in return. "You're right. None of it matters now. We've gone too far to stop." Her voice was lower than a whisper.

Lelouch was studying her. "You're scared."

"Am I?"

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"It should be me who is scared, but strangely enough, C.C… I'm not scared."

The witch didn't say anything, and Lelouch went on. "I think I'm ready for this. What I've done - everything I've done, all the lives I've taken. All the lies. It's time to atone for my sins."

"Are you saying you'll be happy with the results? The Demon Emperor's gone, and the world is a better place. How wonderful. How about the people you left behind, Lelouch?"

The teen flinched slightly at the subtly bitter tone of her voice as she spoke.

"What-"

"Nunnally, for example," continued the witch. "What will happen to her now that her brother's gone? She has no one but you."

"She won't know the truth." Lelouch's voice turned firm. "She can never know the truth. In her eyes, I am the Demon Emperor, and will remain as such until the end of time."

"Are you the Demon Emperor to me, too, Lelouch?"

He looked taken aback. "What are you trying to say, C.C.?"

A weary sigh escaped her lips. "Nothing." She pushed her chair back and stood up. Glancing down at him, she said, "Let's go somewhere else. This place is suffocating me."

**x**

**x**

Lelouch took her to his favorite spot.

It wasn't much. As a matter of fact, it was just an old pier overlooking a broad, darkening ocean. A couple of boats here and there, and an approaching moon was slowly coming out from behind the drifting clouds, and was ready to make a reflection of itself on the smooth, silvery surface of the glossy waters beneath. In the distance, a dim green light from a lighthouse could be seen shimmering.

C.C. stood at the very edge of the pier. There was no one else here but this couple. All was quiet and peaceful and serene.

Taking in a deep breath, C.C. rubbed her hands together to warm herself. Lelouch was standing beside her. His face was lifted up to look at the pale moon above.

"How beautiful," said he.

"Enjoy it while you can, Lelouch," murmured C.C. "You won't be able to see it anymore a week from now."

"C.C., let me ask you something."

Her silence prompted him to continue. "Do you cherish immortality?"

The witch raised her delicate green eyebrow questioningly as she answered, "Haven't you heard me complain enough about this curse of mine? "Cherish" doesn't exactly exist in my vocabulary in this particular case, Lelouch."

"Ah, and why is that?"

"Because it is a curse."

"Why is it a curse? You get to live forever, be young and beautiful forever. You have no idea what people will do to lay hands on this "curse" of yours. People will kill for it. They will do even the things upon which the Devil frowns to be immortal like you."

Still rubbing her hands together, C.C. answered. Her voice was as chilly as the evening airs. "When you live long enough, you'll see that there is no point to your existence. Just like a flowing river. What is its significance? It knows that it can never be dry and keep flowing, so why bother to care about anything? To the river, time is at a standstill, no matter what it does, it will always be the same. It tries to change itself, but the result is always the same. A forever-flowing river. It may enjoy its existence once because it used to think that it was special. Not anymore. Not when it's a constant in life, never changing. After some time, it realizes that no one cares about it anymore because it never disappears. Always there, always a burden. When it lives forever, there is no point in living anymore because what is the point of living when there is no end? Just like drawing a line on paper. Will you get tired of drawing the same, straight line forever and ever, never stopping? At a certain point, your hand will get weak, yet you're not allowed to stop. You have to keep going. Explain to me now, Lelouch, how is that not a curse?"

She had turned to him and when she was speaking, her eyes glazed over, and Lelouch thought he saw a pure white pearl ooze out from a corner of her eye. However, it disappeared as soon as it appeared, with just a blink of an eye.

C.C. was too busy talking that she hadn't realized that she had stopped rubbing her hands to warm herself, and that Lelouch had occasionally tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear.

"You're right on all those points. You have told me before in the World of C." said Lelouch, smiling. "Now you see my point, don't you, C.C.? The river is the moon, and myself is someone that cares. The moon is forever, but that 'someone' isn't. And because I'm not forever that I'm able to enjoy the moon's beauty. If I had lived forever just like that moon up there, do you think I won't get sick of its sight? And if I did, then what is the purpose of the moon's existence? No one will care and happily exclaim about its brightness in the dark anymore if all of us are forever. Here, look."

Lelouch had circled behind the grey witch, and wrapping his arms around her slender waist, he rested his chin on her small shoulder. His eyes were staring at that beautiful object in the starry skies, and he was sure she was looking, too.

"You're not alone now. Right now, you're not forever. Do you think the moon is beautiful, C.C.?"

Closing her eyes and opening them again, C.C. heeded his advice. Imagining herself as a normal teenager, a young, naïve girl who first got the Geass and knew nothing of its consequences, she at last felt at peace.

A small smile broke out on her pretty face as she wrapped her arms around his and squeezed them slightly. "It's beautiful," she whispered.

Lelouch wanted to say it, badly, but he couldn't.

C.C. wanted to hear it, achingly, but she knew it would do no good.

Swallowing their sorrows and tears, the couple said nothing and simply enjoyed the mesmerizing sight.

"You'll forget me, right, C.C.?"

"Do you want me to?" Her voice was so low that the pain within was well hidden.

The words came next nearly shattered her trained, cold and frozen heart.

"Yes. That is my wish."

"How selfish."

"Am I?"

"You haven't completed mine. You even said you intended to keep your three promises."

"I do."

"Well, you're running out of time, boy."

"My first promise is to make you smile. Check." Lelouch chuckled. C.C. rolled her eyes.

He continued. "My second promise is to not abandon you. Check."

_You will… After the Zero Requiem…_

"And your third promise?"

"I believe I've also fulfilled it."

_Then say it…_

"'You believe'? You may be wrong."

"Have I, then, C.C.?" Lelouch whispered softly into her ear. "Have I completed your wish, also known as my third promise to you?"

C.C. didn't say anything. She only bit back her tears and down on her lower lip and waited and waited… for something on which she couldn't place her finger.

Lelouch's feathery kiss on her neck sent a chill down her spine and goosebumps on her arms. "Silence is yes and any answer is no," said Lelouch.

As much and desperately as C.C. wanted to say something, anything, her tongue wouldn't let a single word escape her lips. At the end, a tiny, understanding smile stretched out on Lelouch's handsome face as he tightened his arms around her. "So I'm not selfish now, am I? You have to live on, C.C., and forget me."

"Is that an order, too?" She didn't think her voice cracked when she spoke, but she had a vague feeling that it might sound funny.

"Geass doesn't work on you, so no it's not an order. It's a sincere request from me to you."

C.C. closed her eyes. "After the Zero Requiem, you will be the Demon Emperor to me and remain as such until the end of time."

"Can you do that for me, C.C.?"

A single trail of tears arched down her pale face as she opened her eyes again, and instead of an answer, she unexpectedly turned around to kiss him.

Gently grabbing his face in her hands, she pulled him down until their noses were lightly brushing, and she whispered. "I can't do that because all of your memories are with me until the end of time. We might never meet again, but I will not be lonely, Lelouch. You will be with me until this curse is lifted, and we shall meet again. A thousand lifetimes from now, our paths will cross again, and once again we will be lovers. Once again, we will be together, and nothing can separate us."

Just one day… To have our vows…

Just one day… To know we belonged to each other…

Just one day… To have our love professed…

Just one day…

**-end-**

* * *

**A/N: **Actually, at first I planned this story to be a two-shot, but then I ended up making it an one-shot only for some unknown reasons. Looking back on it, I thought maybe I should have a little sequel to show the contrast between their dates in which C.C. is a different person in both scenarios and how Lelouch treats her accordingly. Oh, and I also fixed the summary to make it a bit more fitting for a two-shot. So this is it. Thank you so much for reading and reviews are always, always appreciated!


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